Beginnings

"Beginnings" is the debut extended-play from American musical artist and Flex Entertainment executive beetlebat, released on October 23, 2020. It includes a feature from Lil Squeaky.

The EP includes the singles "Physics", "On The Regular", and "Patrol."

Background
"Beginnings" is Beetle's debut EP. Beetle first discovered Flex Entertainment through Brad Taste in Music's video about Lil Mosquito Disease's "Infection." He started listening to multiple songs from the label and joined their discord in November 2019. Beetle decided to release a song himself, a school project for his Physics class. On December 22, he released "Physics", a parody of Maroon 5's "Memories." He announced he would be releasing an extended play titled "Beginnings" in 2020. Mosquito and Schmoobin liked the song and signed him to Flex Entertainment on December 29, 2019. The music video for "Physics" was released on January 12, 2020. The video gained around 200 views in twenty-four hours, a record for him. Maroon 5 themselves may have seen the video. On January 31, 2020, he became a Flex Entertainment executive for the creation of the Flex Entertainment Hot 100 chart. He released his second single "On The Regular" on June 5, 2020. A music video for the song was released on June 21, 2020.

A song titled "Fresh" was previewed at the 2020 Flexfest festival. On October 20, 2020, he released a trailer which announced that the EP would be released on October 23. It also previewed the instrumental for the intro track "Here We Go." The next day, he announced the track listing for the EP which would have six songs, including the two previous singles, and a song that features Lil Squeaky "Patrol."

After the release of the EP on October 23, he would upload a video two days later discussing the story of the EP and how it all came about. It described it as his breakthrough as a musical artist for the first time. He later informed people it would be the "most basic thing you'd here from him" and that it would "only get better."

Recording
All six tracks from the EP were written and recorded in Beetle's home studio through Audacity and a Blue Snowball microphone. The mixing and mastering was performed by J1D (Fresh) and Lil Squeaky (Here We Go, Turn It Up, & Patrol). "Physics" and "On The Regular" were both raw recordings with very little mixing done by Beetle. "Patrol" was originally suppose to feature his best friend Domumus but he decided to not move forward with the verse out of fear he would mess up the song. The recording process dates from October 2020 to October 2021.

Music and Lyrics
The lyrical content of the EP was mainly basic rapping material about flexing and making a come up. All the production for the project was taken off YouTube as free-for-profit beats. "Here We Go" is a conscious intro track that discusses how he started his music making journey. He calls back to the extra credit assignment in his Physics which inspired his song of the same name. The second verse sees him growing into the mold of a musical artist. "On The Regular" is the second song, a R&B/Hip hop song with a chill vibe to it. There are some silly lines in the song that Beetle calls "comedy." The first verse is mainly flexing and the second verse is about struggles. The entire song is about making music regularly with his label. The third song "Fresh" sees Beetle feeling good about himself after the support he has received from his hometown surrounding his music. He even references one of the only famous figures from his area Clem Sohn. The fourth track "Patrol" is a west-coast sounding hip hop track about taking over the rap scene along with a verse from the only feature Lil Squeaky. The fifth track "Turn It Up" is a party track about "turning up" in the club. It samples the viral video of a Texas high schooler yelling "turn it up" in November 2019. Beetle calls it his "worst song" but still finds the song enjoyable due to it being the most Flex Entertainment sounding song he has. The final track is "Physics" which fits as a proper ending to the EP using the song that started it all. It is a school parody of Maroon 5's "Memories." Just like "Memories", it is based on the harmonic sequence of "Pachelbel's Canon" by Johann Pachelbel. It is arranged around light keys and guitars. The instrumental was created by Queen Karaoke. He took the lyrics of "Memories" by Maroon 5 and rewrote them into a school parody.

Singles
"Physics" was released on December 22, 2019, as the lead single for the EP. The song received positive feedback from critics and fans. A music video was released on January 12, 2020, earning two hundred views in 24 hours. It is his most successful song so far with one thousands plays on both YouTube and Soundcloud. The song peaked at No. 15 on the Flex Entertainment Hot 100.

"On The Regular" was released on June 5, 2020 as the second single for the EP. It debuted at No. 28 on the Flex Entertainment Hot 100. The following week, it rose to No. 18. A music video for the song was released on June 21, 2020. The video propelled the song to No. 10, becoming his first top ten single.

"Patrol" was released as a single along with a remix from Lil Mosquito Disease and Young Ryan G on December 25, 2020.

Critical Reception
The EP was met with negative to mixed reviews from critics initially, calling the rapping "mediocre" but the songs were relatively "catchy and charming." As time went on, the release started becoming much more appreciated for how memorable every track was and the three singles being considered some of the most iconic songs in the label's history. It is now seen as a "classic" in the Flex Entertainment catalogue which is a complete 180 from the initial criticism it got. Beetle himself says the EP has a special place in his heart, seeing it more as a "starting point" than a complete story.

It currently has a 60 on AlbumOfTheYear from 23 users and a 3.07 on RateYourMusic from 5 users.

Track Listing

 * 1) "Here We Go"
 * 2) "On The Regular"
 * 3) "Fresh"
 * 4) "Patrol" (feat. Lil Squeaky)
 * 5) "Turn It Up"
 * 6) "Physics"

Chart performance
Beginnings debuted at number seven on the Braeden's Most Played Albums chart with 130,000 units sold. It is his first top ten album. The following week, it moved up to a new peak of number three with 200,000 units sold in its first full tracking week. It lasted three weeks in the top ten. It was the 98th best-selling album of 2020. It was certified Gold by BMP.